House sends Hegseth impeachment resolution to committee, 211-204, as every voting Bay Area member opposes the referral

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the effort a political spectacle and the Pentagon said he followed lawful orders. Rep. Ro Khanna, who had urged impeachment, credited Rep. Thomas Massie as the only Republican to break ranks. Here is how the region’s delegation voted.

November 11, 2026

Top image: Rep. Ro Khanna of Silicon Valley’s 17th District at Stanford University in February 2026. Photo: Anderseidesvik / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

By Rafael Quintero-Lind, Politics Reporter

The House on Tuesday evening, Nov. 10, voted 211-204 to refer an impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to the Judiciary Committee, according to the House clerk’s roll call. Sending it to committee leaves little or no time for action before Democrats take control of both chambers in January, CNBC reported.

The resolution, H.Res. 1655, was filed by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. It contained eight articles, accusing Hegseth of waging the Iran war without congressional authorization, carrying out unlawful boat strikes in the Caribbean and targeting Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., for his speech.

The administration’s case

Hegseth rejected the effort at a Pentagon news conference hours before the vote. “What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting is not oversight, and it’s not accountability. It’s a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment,” he said, as quoted by CNBC. “It’s a farce, and it’s a stunt, and everybody knows it.” He also said the effort “puts a target on the backs of American warriors.”

Pentagon spokesperson Jacob Bliss said Hegseth “carried out direct, lawful orders from the President to secure the nation.”

After the vote, President Donald Trump wrote that the “attempt to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has miserably FAILED!” He called the result an “EXONERATION.” Every Republican except Massie voted to refer the measure.

Pete Hegseth in his official Defense Department portrait. He called the impeachment effort a political spectacle and said every operation was lawful. Photo: U.S. Department of Defense (public domain) via Wikimedia Commons

Khanna: ‘Only Massie voted to uphold the law’

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, was among the most vocal Bay Area members calling for a floor vote. “Impeach Hegseth. End the war,” he wrote on X Tuesday morning. In remarks that day, posted by reporter Max Cohen, he said: “We need to impeach Hegseth. If there was one message in this entire election, it’s that people did not want the war in Iran.”

After the vote, Khanna wrote: “Republicans blocked the impeachment of Pete Hegseth. The Republican Party is totally out of touch. Only @RepThomasMassie voted to uphold the law.”

The cross-party alliance is familiar territory for Khanna, who partnered with Massie on the law to compel release of the Epstein files. It also fits his national profile. Khanna is widely seen as a likely contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, as recent coverage of the 2028 field has noted, and he has made opposition to the Iran war a centerpiece of his message.

Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, the resolution’s author and the only Republican to vote against sending it to committee. Photo: House Creative Services (public domain) via Wikimedia Commons

How the Bay Area voted

A “nay” vote opposed sending the resolution to committee, which meant keeping it alive for a floor vote. Every Bay Area House member who voted cast a nay, according to the clerk’s tally:

Santa Clara County: Ro Khanna (17th), Zoe Lofgren (18th) and Sam Liccardo (16th)
San Mateo County: Kevin Mullin (15th)
East Bay: Lateefah Simon (12th), Mark DeSaulnier (10th), John Garamendi (8th) and Aisha Wahab
North Bay and Central Coast: Mike Thompson (4th), Jared Huffman (2nd) and Jimmy Panetta (19th)

Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco was recorded as not voting. The Chronicle did not find a public statement from her office explaining the absence.

Mullin wrote on X: “I voted to impeach Pete Hegseth – but Republicans would rather protect the most incompetent Secretary of Defense America has ever seen and continue Trump’s unconstitutional war.” Panetta wrote that “the Administration has continued its war in Iran without congressional authorization, well beyond the deadline established by the 1973 War Powers Resolution.”

Rep. Kevin Mullin of San Mateo County, who said on X that he voted to impeach Hegseth. Photo: U.S. House of Representatives (public domain) via Wikimedia Commons

What comes next

Massie said he would not file another impeachment resolution, CBS News reported, but he plans to force a vote on a war powers resolution. “We’re going to see all these Republicans who said, ‘Oh, we lost this election because of the war,’ will they still vote for it?” he said. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said after the vote: “This is not the end of it. It’s just the beginning.” Democrats have promised investigations of the Pentagon once they take the majority, NPR reported.

The long view

The vote closes the impeachment question for this Congress but leaves the Bay Area delegation on record heading into a Democratic House. For Khanna, it adds to a series of positions built around ending the Iran war and working with libertarian Republicans such as Massie, a coalition he has used on war powers and government transparency. Whether the new majority revisits impeachment or turns to oversight hearings and war powers votes, the region’s members will be among the votes Democratic leaders count on.

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